The scientifically illiterate I’ve known don’t get as far as the P-test. They’re still stuck at 1) conservation of energy (you don’t get something for nothing), and 2) accepting that physical reality does not depend on what we want it to be.

This list leaves out the first step, though that is understandable because it’s not really about “cool news”. The first step is reading the paper, or at least the abstract. Then you can start judging the logical connection between the evidence and the conclusions. But if you just read a news article, often enough they don’t describe the research accurately.

I would love to share this … if I thought it would do any good. I’m so tired of people telling me that drinking diet sodas is going to give me MS and/or brain tumors. I have a lot more trouble with people sharing “science” stories with me that aren’t even real than I do with people simply sharing science stories they don’t understand.